Skids of this type are used, in particular in the automotive industry, for transporting vehicle bodies between, and partially in, individual processing or treatment stations within a conveyor installation. The support runners of the skid cooperate with conveyor means, for example a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor.
In such a conveyor installation it can happen that up to 400 or more vehicle bodies are conveyed at the same time. In order to drive said bodies a large number of drive units, i.e., as a rule, electric motors, are necessary.
To ensure a uniform throughput through the installation, buffer areas are often provided, within which skids loaded or not loaded with vehicle bodies are temporarily parked.
Usually, the conveying means inside such a buffer area correspond to the conveying means of a conveying area which connects processing or treatment stations.
The roller conveyors mentioned above, as already used in conveyor installations, usually comprise parallel steel profiles in which are recessed rollers on which the support runners of the skid rest. For conveying the skid on the roller conveyor, a plurality of the rollers are driven.
In total, in roller conveyors and in other known conveying means for conveying skids, a comparatively large quantity of steel is employed. This increases the total cost of such a conveyor installation.
The above-mentioned high number of necessary drive units, which in a conveyor installation of usual size can amount to approximately 1200, also ensures high investment costs.
Skids of the type mentioned in the introduction have the disadvantage that their support runners can cooperate only with conveying means which must include an appropriately large number of drive units for this purpose. If an existing installation is to be enlarged or modified, it is necessary that the conveying means to be incorporated at that time correspond to those of the existing installation. Alternative conveying means which require less material and/or fewer drives cannot be used.
In addition, conveying means frequently also form a guide structure for a skid. This is the case, for example, with a roller conveyor. However, as already mentioned, a roller conveyor is very complex and costly in construction. Nevertheless, there may be regions in a conveyor installation in which a more simply configured guide structure could be used, if the skid was not restricted to a single guide structure.
The present invention is directed to addressing these and other issues.